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Catholic Colleges: Cultivating Charisms within Character Joseph R. Ferrari, Angela M. Koenigs, Todd L. Bottom, Caroline Antler, Vicky S. Karahalios, Christopher Lyons, Vincent Mammana‐Lupo, Kathleen E. McAuliff, & Shannon M. Williams DePaul University, Chicago, IL Yes, each of us has gifts – talents bestowed on us freely from God. In our Roman Catholic tradition, we consider these gifts from the Holy Spirit to enable us to live our faith in community with others. We may use these talents to improve the lives of those who are marginalized, ostracized, and unwelcomed to the table. Unfortunately, we don’t always recognize those gifts in ourselves or we don’t know who to best use them for the greater good. Herein lays an essential value of Catholic Colleges and Universities. We believe Catholic higher education is a system that enables all stakeholders (students, faculty, staff, administration, alumni, parents, etc.) to growth and strengthen those talents – to cultivate the gifts that are given. Intellectual development must be a cornerstone of higher education, but in Catholic higher education another cornerstone is cultivating compassion and sensitivity to the needs of others. While each person has talents to “do good,” that person does not always have the opportunity to actualize those talents. Catholic higher education institutions may foster skills toward helping others. Recently, Sanders (2010) discussed how Catholic colleges and universities follow the talents – the charisms – of their specific religious denomination (e.g., Benedictine, Christian Brother, Dominican, Franciscan, Jesuit, LaSallian, Vincentian, to name a few). These gifts given to their religious order are said to be reflected to help shape the lives of students through the mission identity and mission‐driven activities of their college and university. However, it seems that most schools do not examine their mission objectively and empirically. For the past 12 years or so, we have investigated the Vincentian mission identity and activities reflective of DePaul University in Chicago. Under the supervision and leadership of Fr. Edward Udovic, Senior Vice President, Secretary of the University, and VP for Mission and Values, we’ve examined students, faculty, staff, senior administrators, leaders of color, and even Board of Trustees. Popular perception is that today’s college student is self‐centered, self‐
absorbed, and unengaged in caring for others. Still, over the past decade considerable attention in education focused in civic engagement activities/programs and service learning courses for students. A generation of emerging adults considers community volunteerism an essential part of their personal identity and adult life. Despite this contrast in perception and reality, there seems to be little research that explores how higher educational institutions may impact on the role of student benevolence. Also, it is unclear what role personal spirituality may play toward influencing states and traits of benevolence in emerging adults. At the February, 2011, meeting of the Dalton Institute on College Student Values our research team of doctoral, masters, and undergraduate students and a faculty member presented original research conducted how benevolent students at the university report that they are. Initially, we presented an interactive symposium providing an overview of our past decades research on different campus stakeholders assessing their perceptions, attitude, intentions, and actions around DePaul’s mission identity and mission‐driven activities. As with most Catholic higher education institutions, we support a campus climate of civic engagement and benevolence, as well as personal spirituality promoting social justice. Then, the graduate and undergraduate students presented posters on their separate but related studies to assess issues of mission and spirituality as related to benevolence by students, namely: community self‐efficacy, hope, need to belong, civic actions, social justice, loneliness, and sense of community. Their separate original studies are summarized briefly below with a short abstract. We believe these projects demonstrate that other schools may investigate their institution’s charisms and how well they cultivate a climate of compassion on campus: Faith and Civic Engagement with Loneliness: Gender Differences in Benevolence? Caroline Antler, Kathleen E. McAuliff, & Joseph R. Ferrari Abstract: Borys and Perlman (1985) claimed that women are often assumed to have higher rates of mental illness and to be more emotional than men; perhaps because women are assumed to be lonelier than men. Interestingly, findings suggest that men actually score higher on measures of loneliness that do not use the term “loneliness.” Utilizing an updated version of the UCLA Loneliness Scale, Russell (1996) found significant mean differences in loneliness between the sexes, and that these differences applied solely to college students within his sample. Russell (1996) also found that loneliness was strongly associated with dimensions of well‐being and adjustment. One might expect significant differences in loneliness between sexes and an individual’s perceptions of themselves, their community, and their ability to adjust. Droege and Ferrari (2011) noted that student participation in university based activities, such as service‐learning, may promote a sense of a collective community, identity, and purpose, finding that the students who participated in similar programs increased in their desire to improve their community. To further examine this topic, the current study assessed whether personal importance of factors such as civic engagement, politics, spiritual growth, and personal growth and gender predict an individual’s loneliness. Participants (160 female, 60 male; M age: 19.7 years) completed the UCLA Loneliness scale (Russell, 1996) and the Faith and Civic Engagement Inventory (Droege & Ferrari, 2011) and basic demographic information. Loneliness was significantly predicted by gender and the personal importance the subject held of the target university’s promotion of their personal growth. Loneliness was not significantly predicted by the personal importance of the target university’s promotion of the participant’s spiritual growth, the personal importance of politics, or the personal importance of civic engagement. Results suggested that gender and the view a college student has of the role their university plays in their personal growth may both affect how “alone” that student feels. The lack of a significant prediction of loneliness by the personal importance of civic engagement, politics, and how the student’s university promoted their spiritual growth may suggest that more concern for politics, civic engagement, and/or spiritual growth allow the student to feel less “alone” and promote well‐being. One might also suggest that the more importance an individual places on their university’s promotion of their personal growth the less likely that individual is to adapt socially and the more likely they are to feel “alone.” Community Self‐Efficacy and Benevolence: Are There Student Sample Differences at Two Faith‐Based Universities? Todd L. Bottom, Vincent Mammana‐Lupo, & Joseph R. Ferrari Abstract: Many faith‐based universities’ missions include some aspect of being a servant to communities (Woodrow, 2006). Little research, however, reported students’ perceptions of their own future volunteer effectiveness. This study compared students’ self‐reports regarding their future ability to effectively contribute to the betterment of communities through volunteering and service learning at two Catholic universities (Vincentian and Franciscan). A total of 6,166 students at two Catholic universities completed on‐line the Community Self‐Efficacy (CSE) scale, along with other measures in a university‐wide survey administration. However, only undergraduate students who answered relevant survey questions were included, leaving a total sample of 275 participants from University A, and 1,924 participants from University B. Results indicated that while faith‐based universities may share several fundamental commonalities, it is important to be mindful of students’ self‐efficacy regarding volunteer efforts. Because it is difficult to determine whether these between‐setting differences are due to institutional efforts or to other factors, further research should focus on how to improve students’ perceptions of their future volunteer efforts. Hope and Community Self‐efficacy: Does ‘Doing Good’ Impact on ‘Being Optimistic’? Vicky S. Karahalios, Shannon M. Williams, & Joseph R. Ferrari Abstract: Self‐efficacy expectations and outcome expectations have been associated with community service principles. Efficacy expectations influence one’s own behavior and the environmental effects created by their behaviors, and resulting behaviors significantly influence ones outcome expectations (Reeb 2006). In the current study student’s perceptions of community service self‐ efficacy (CSSE) and hope were measured to predict significant trends between efficacy expectations and outcome expectations. Student’s community service self efficacy was analyzed in accordance with hope to determine significant relationships between one’s own service to their community and one’s perception of optimism. A total of 170 undergraduate students (116 women, 49 men) completed the CSSE and Hope measures. Pearson Correlations found relationships between CSSE and Hope. A t‐test also compared mean scores between males and females. When comparing CSSE and Hope scores, no significant sex differences were found. However, agency while compared to pathways had a stronger relationship with CSSE. This result suggests that one’s agency is a better determinant of one’s perceived optimism than one’s pathways. Result also suggests that a benevolent person, a person that has the inclination to do good, may be more optimistic largely due to their agency. ‘Civically Minded’ May Not Mean ‘Socially Concerned’: What Role is Benevolence in Community Service and Civic Action? Angela M. Koenigs, Christopher Lyons & Joseph R. Ferrari Abstract: Research suggests that participation in service‐learning courses at colleges and universities may increase the likelihood of future participation in civically orientated endeavors. For example, Moley, Mercer, Ilustre, Miron, and McFarland (2002) found a positive, moderate correlation between the number of hours of community service students have completed and the intent to participate in community service, or related civic activities, again in the future. While the importance of service‐
learning in the development of civically involved young adults seems logical, it does not explore the motivation behind one’s civic action intentions. The current study assessed whether the intention to engage in civically minded action (such as community service) significantly predicted feelings regarding the personal importance of civic engagement, faith, and politics of students at a faith‐based university that incorporates service‐learning into its curricula. We also explored participation in on‐campus, extracurricular activities as a predictor of the above variables. Taken together, this study provided insight into the role of service‐learning in encouraging not only future civic action, but a genuine concern for social, spiritual, and political development of students. Results showed that the intention to participate in future civically orientated behaviors significantly predicted the personal importance of civic engagement, faith, and politics among students at a faith‐based university that incorporates service‐learning into its curricula. These results suggest that the intention to engage in civic action may be the result of an intrinsic motivation to improve the community, one’s spirituality, and/or the political climate. The results also imply that service‐learning may impact both future civic actions and the personal importance of such behaviors. Does One’s Need to Belong Within An Institute Promoting Benevolence Impact on Personal and School Sense of Community? Vincent Mammana‐Lupo, Todd L. Bottom, & Joseph R. Ferrari Abstract: Social phenomena (e.g., a need to belong) may effect a students’ perceptions of the communities to which he/she belongs. In dealing with diverse student populations, it is important to understand how persons perceive their shared environment as a result of their need to belong. The current study analyzed 220 undergraduate scores on measures of Need to Belong (NTB), School Sense of Community (SSOC), and a Personal Sense of Community (PSOC). Results found that NTB was significantly positively related to PSOC (r = 0.252), but not SSOC (r = 0.127). Past research suggested ethnic differences across our target measures, especially SSOC and PSOC. For example, Hallinan & Kubitschek (2009) found that racial minority students in Catholic schools have reported a lower sense of their school as a community. Although, their study was done with Catholic students grade 6‐12, further studies should be done to assess perceptions of students who attend Catholic universities. Also, Chavous (1999) found that racial background significantly predicted students’ scoring on measures of sense of community. Our study was conducted at a university. We must consider the idea that they might have been a product of our limitations, such as the setting in which our survey was administered. Carvallo and Pelham (2006) suggested that in the presence of different social audiences, changes in beliefs and prejudices are often shown by members of the majority group. Because our survey was administered in a classroom setting at a urban university known for its diverse student body, it is possible that the presence of different social groups within the classroom setting influenced our outcomes, specifically NTB. Social Justice in Benevolence: Are Students Engaged in Campus Ministry Similar to General Students? Kathleen E. McAuliff, Caroline Antler, & Joseph R. Ferrari Abstract: Social justice is an issue of increasing importance to institutions of higher education. The current study compared social justice attitudes between two groups of DePaul University students. One group comprised of students engaged in University Ministry activities (n = 88) and the other group were general students, those not involved in University Ministry (n = 214). The 29‐item Social Justice Attitudes Scale (Torres‐Harding, Siers, Schulz & Olson, 2009) contained four subscales that measure attitudes, behaviors, norms, and intentions to engage in acts of social justice. Evaluating students’ beliefs in social justice principles and attitudes towards social justice may glean some information of how emerging adults perceive societal issues. The 302 participants were students administered the Social Justice Attitudes Scale as well as other self‐report measures. Mean scores were analyzed on each subscale and significant differences were found on all subscales Interfaith Engagement Opportunities and Development Among Emerging Adults: Is Benevolence an Outcome? Shannon M. Williams, Vicky S. Karahalios, & Joseph R. Ferrari Abstract: A variety of fields throughout psychology hold social justice to be a critical value yet find it challenging to promote social action. Therefore, it is important to look at what notions may impact the attitudes and behavioral components of social justice action. Torres‐Harding, Siers, & Olson (2009) developed the Social Justice Attitudes Scale (SJ), a 29‐item scale with four subscales that measure the attitudes and behaviors around engaging in social justice. The current study examined a sample of students at an urban and diverse Catholic university who also responded on Duriez, Soenens, & Hutsebaut’s (2005) 18‐item shortened Post‐Critical Belief Scale (PCBS), which separates the way religious contents are processed depending on whether a person is religious. The present study assessed whether scores on the PCBS subscales predicted scores on the SJ subscales ‐ to determine whether post‐critical religious evaluators impact social justice attitudes. A total of 426 university students, 263 underclassmen and 155 upper classmen, participated in the present study and completed a variety of scales related to faith and social justice. We examined data on 267‐268 students who completed the Post‐Critical Belief Scale four subscales encompassing whether one is religious or not: orthodoxy, external critique, and how one processes religious contents: second naiveté, and relativism. The Social Justice Attitudes Scale included subscales to measure the attitudes toward, subjective norm around, perceived behavioral control around, and intention to engage in social justice. Results indicated that 3 of the 4 PCBS subscales significantly predicted between 2‐3 SJA subscales, namely: ‐PCBS subscales determining whether one is religious or not Orthodoxy (O) and External Critique (E) both negatively predicted SJ subscales: SJA, SN, and IE. ‐PCBS subscale with symbolic processing Second Naivete (S) positively predicted SJ subscales: SJA and IE. ‐PCBS subscale with literal processing Relativism (R) did not significantly predict any of the SJ subscales. REFERENCES Baumeister, RF, & Leary, MR (1995). The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 117, 497–529. Borys, S. & Perlman, D. (1985). Gender differences in lonliness. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 11(1), 63‐74. Carvallo, M. & Pelham, B. W., (2006). When fiends become friends: The need to belong and perceptions of personal and group discrimination. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 90(1), 94‐108 Chavous, T. M. 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